Two pads. Eight arrows. Hours and hours of musical fun. Dance Dance Revolution started as a modest rhythm game in Japanese arcades and quickly grew into a cultural phenomenon. On this episode Rob Nichols, cohost of VGM podcast Rhythm & Pixels, joins Ed for a very in-depth chronological look at 20 years’ worth of the amazing danceable music which took arcades around the world by storm. On this extra long show, you’ll learn about the artists behind the tunes, dive into the technology behind the arcade cabinets, and marvel at how the vocal and voracious DDR fandom directly influenced the trajectory of Konami’s music-based games.
Hear more of Rob Nichols on his VGM podcast Rhythm & Pixels!
A huge thank you to Indira J (The Misadventures of Buddy and Friend, Sacrimony) for the amazing VGMbassy artwork and design, and to Trevin Hughes (aka chiptune composer Jredd) for the podcast theme song!
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The Tracklist:
1 – “Paranoia – 180” from Dance Dance Revolution (PS1, Arcade, PC, 1998) Composed by Naoki Maeda
2 – “SP-Trip Machine Jungle Mix” from DDR 2nd Mix (Arcade, DC, PS1, 1998) Composed by DE-SIRE (Naoki Maeda)
3 – “Dynamite Rave” From DDR 3rdMix (Arcade, PS1, 1999) Composed by Naoki Maeda, lyrics by Terry & Argie (Argie Phine-Martin)
4 – “After The Game of Love” From DDR 4thMix (Arcade, PS1, 2000) Composed by NPD3 (U1 ASAMI (Yuichi Asami)) with vocals by Scotty D
5 – “Dive” from DDR 5thMix (Arcade, PS1, 2001) Composed by BeForU (Riyu Kosaka, Noria Shiraishi, Yoma Komatsu, Shiyuna Maehara) and Naoki Maeda
6 – “Max 300” from DDRMAX 6thMix (Arcade, PS2, 2001) Composed by Ω (Naoki Maeda)
7 – “ever snow” from DDRMAX 2 (Arcade, PS2, 2002) Composed by Yoma Komatsu (Nao Komatsu)
8 – “1998” from Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (Arcade, PS2, 2002) Composed by NAOKI (Naoki Maeda)
9 – “Star Gate Heaven Future Love Mix” from Dance Dance Revolution: SuperNOVA (Arcade, PS2, 2006) Composed by SySF (Sota Fujimori) feat. Donna Burke
10 – “Freeway Shuffle” from DDR SuperNOVA 2 (Arcade, PS2, 2007) Composed by dj TAKA (Takayuki Ishikawa)
11 – “Tracers 4Beat Remix” from DDR X (PS2, Arcade, 2008) Composed by Ruffage (Robin Petras) & Size
12 – “Decade” from DDR X2 (Arcade, 2010) Composed by Kors K (Kosuke Saito) vs DJ Taka
13 – “Tribe” from DDR X3 vs 2ndMix (Arcade, 2011) Composed by 猫叉Master / Nekomata Master (Naoyuki Sato)
14 – “Nightbird Lost Wing” from DDR 2013 (Arcade, 2013) Composed by 猫叉Master / Nekomata Master (Naoyuki Sato)
15 – “Prey” from DDR A (Arcade, 2016) Composed by Dustup / Shunsuke Sato
16 – “Avenger” from DDR A20 (Arcade, 2019) Composed by USAO
17 (Outro) – 50th Memorial: The BEMANI History / BEMANI Sound Team
Prime VGMinister
